A Little Gunsmithing

[AzShooter1]

I took my 617s and tuned them up a little more. The 4 inch needed smoothing of the action so out came my stones. Trigger pull was pretty good but not real smooth so I stoned the rebound slide some more, the hammer and trigger.

Hammer falls at 44 ounces. Hopefully that will work with all the .22 ammo I have.

Double Action pull is averaging 8.7 pounds. A bit heavy but that's what it takes to consistently fire off my ammo. Trigger pull is a lot smoother now that I've done the extra stoning and smooth is better than light any day.

My 6 inch needed a new red dot sight on it. I installed a C-More Railway with an Allchin mount. This Railway is the polymer one without click adjustments so I have to be sure I turn it completely off or batteries die quickly. For Steel Challenge I set it up with a 12 MOA dot. It's still very accurate but I only need to hit 10, 12 and 18 X 24 inch plates so I don't need a small dot.

Took about 2 hours to tune up the 4 inch and no time to install the new dot on the 6 inch so it was a good morning.

 

[Tbafile]

My 617 4” has the worst, grittiest trigger of all my revolvers. I have stones and have lightly, and I mean lightly, touched up the contact points, leaving the SA sear alone. Any suggestions on what areas made the most difference in smoothing up hours? I’m less interested in light than I am smooth. I was able to take a 66-8 to a much smoother action with just light work with the stones, but the same effort hasn’t yielded the same results with the 617.

 

[AzShooter1]

The 617 is a beast unto itself. My other Smith run 4.5 pound to 6 pound actions but only work with Federal Primers. I don't have that luxury on the 617.

One thing that helps is I run an 11 pound rebound spring. You've got to get your finger off the trigger between shots or you will skip a cylinder. Not good. I've done thousands of dry fires with my revolvers to get my trigger finger right.

For stoning, I use a medium Arkansas stone with lots of oil. Make sure you do the rebound slide. Not only the bottom but both sides and the top where the safety area is. Just take off the bright spots and you will be good.

Do the frame where the rebound slide moves. Again you are trying to make it smooth, not take metal away.

On the hammer, stone the front of the sear, the bottom of the hammer and stone the sides making sure you get rid of the high spots. Put some empties in and dry fire so that the rub marks will show up. If you've fired a few hundred live rounds you don't need to do the dry firing.

As for the mainspring, I don't use the stock spring. I use a Miculek mainspring. It's a little heavier and I keep the strain screw all the way tight. Some people will say adjusting the strain screw will give you a lighter pull. It does but on a .22 you will lose the energy it takes to set of a majority of ammo. I set up for Mini Mags but for matches I use Federal or Golden Bullets.

 

[Tbafile]

The 617 is a beast unto itself. My other Smith run 4.5 pound to 6 pound actions but only work with Federal Primers. I don't have that luxury on the 617.

One thing that helps is I run an 11 pound rebound spring. You've got to get your finger off the trigger between shots or you will skip a cylinder. Not good. I've done thousands of dry fires with my revolvers to get my trigger finger right.

For stoning, I use a medium Arkansas stone with lots of oil. Make sure you do the rebound slide. Not only the bottom but both sides and the top where the safety area is. Just take off the bright spots and you will be good.

Do the frame where the rebound slide moves. Again you are trying to make it smooth, not take metal away.

On the hammer, stone the front of the sear, the bottom of the hammer and stone the sides making sure you get rid of the high spots. Put some empties in and dry fire so that the rub marks will show up. If you've fired a few hundred live rounds you don't need to do the dry firing.

As for the mainspring, I don't use the stock spring. I use a Miculek mainspring. It's a little heavier and I keep the strain screw all the way tight. Some people will say adjusting the strain screw will give you a lighter pull. It does but on a .22 you will lose the energy it takes to set of a majority of ammo. I set up for Mini Mags but for matches I use Federal or Golden Bullets.

Thanks man! I’ve worked a couple of those points, but I’ll dig a little deeper into things. I definitely haven’t gone that light on the rebound spring. Lots of good info here!

 

[gobsauce]

Every time I see your 617 , i get an itch to do something similar with my Model 10-5. Reckon that cylinder release is compatible with an older K-frame?

 

[AzShooter1]

Every time I see your 617 , i get an itch to do something similar with my Model 10-5. Reckon that cylinder release is compatible with an older K-frame?

Yes, it will work on your Model 10 and just about every S&W revolver.